Pull the Dragon's Tooth! (Geronimo Stilton Micekings #3) Read online

the bravest of us, afraid of? Dragons!”

  I got

  chills

  from the tips of my

  whiskers to the tip of my tail. I am not a

  brave mouseking at all!

  “We will go look for the dragons!” Max

  continued. “We will FACE them! And we

  will

  defeat

  them!”

  “Face them? Face the dra . . . the dra . . .

  46

  the dra . . .”

  I didn’t finish my

  sentence because

  I fainted from

  fright!

  When I opened my

  eyes, I saw a mouseking

  hovering over me.

  “Wake up, you

  smarty-mouseking!” yelled Olaf the Fearless.

  “Where am I?” I asked groggily.

  “You’re on the Bated Breath, of course!”

  he replied.

  Squeak! I was headed for Gullet Valley,

  whether I liked it or not!

  The ship sailed to the edge of a thick

  forest.

  “These are the Elderberry Honey

  Woods,” Max told us. “They lead to Gullet

  47

  Valley. Move it along!”

  We disembarked and marched through

  the

  dark trees.

  I swore I heard

  noises

  coming from behind the tree trunks.

  What

  was

  that?

  It’s

  nothing!

  “Trap, we’re not alone in these

  woods!” I whispered.

  “Don’t be a ’fraidy mouse, Cousin!”

  Trap said.

  This way!

  Wild Beasts in the Woods

  I kept my ears open as we walked. I heard

  more strange sounds . . . brushing . . .

  grumbling

  . . .

  complaining

  . . .

  Then I passed a tree trunk, and saw deep

  claw marks

  in it!

  “Are there

  w-w-wild beasts

  in these

  woods?” I asked Max.

  “Nope,” replied Max. “Just some brown

  bears.”

  “BROWN BEARS! But they’re wild

  beasts!” I cried.

  “All they care about is honey,” Max

  explained. “Just don’t touch the

  beehives

  and you’ll be fine.”

  I looked up. Dozens of beehives

  dangled from the tree branches

  overhead.

  “With all these beehives, there must be a

  lot of bears,” I said nervously.

  50

  I was thinking of all those

  bears with their sharp

  claws

  when I accidentally

  tripped over a big log in the path.

  Crusher, Smasher, and Sprainer

  lifted the log and threw it like

  it was a little branch. When it hit the

  ground, however, the whole

  forest floor shook!

  Out

  of

  the

  way!

  Ouch!

  plop!

  plop!

  plop!

  Three beehives fell, breaking

  open as they hit the ground.

  GOLDEN HONEY spilled out

  of each one.

  RooooaaaAr!!!

  A chorus of threatening roars

  rose from the bushes.

  I ran away with my paws in the

  air and my whiskers trembling

  in fright.

  “I didn’t want to come

  here!” I squeaked.

  A Dragon’s Tooth

  I ran and ran as

  FAST

  as I could. It felt like

  my feet weren’t even touching the ground.

  Had my

  paws

  sprouted wings?

  “Stop right there, smarty-mouseking!”

  a voice bellowed.

  It was Max Musclepaw. That’s when I

  realized that I wasn’t flying. The hero had

  lifted me up by my cloak. I was so

  afraid

  of the bears that I hadn’t noticed!

  “From now on, you will walk behind

  me, Geronimo,” he said.

  I nodded.

  “And you will be very quiet, if you

  know what’s good for you,” Max continued.

  “Do you know what’s

  good

  for you?”

  53

  This is

  Gullet

  Valley!

  A Dragon’s Tooth

  “Yes,” I squeaked.

  He put me down and waved his arm at

  the scene in front of us. “We have reached

  Gullet Valley.

  This is the dragons’ hunting

  ground. They prowl the valley for

  miceking meat.”

  I gulped. Squeak! I didn’t want to be

  here. I approached Max.

  “What exactly is our final test?” I asked

  him.

  “It’s no big deal,” he replied. “You just

  have to pull out a dragon’s tooth!”

  “A d-d-dragon’s tooth?” I stammered.

  Shivering

  squids,

  what

  an

  impossible

  task!

  Suddenly, Max crouched down. “Hide,

  micekings! I hear a noise up ahead.”

  Trap snickered. “That’s just the

  chattering of my scaredy-cousin’s teeth.”

  55

  A Dragon’s Tooth

  “Not this time,” Max said. He pointed.

  “LOOK THERE!”

  We all peeked out from behind the bushes

  to see two dragons splashing

  around in a pool of

  filthy

  water!

  “Let’s get closer,” Max whispered.

  “Is that a good idea?” I asked. “Wouldn’t

  it be smarter to get far away?”

  But Max moved forward, followed by

  the others. Not wanting to be left alone, I

  followed.

  What barbaric beasts!

  “Thisss hot

  ssspring sssmellsss

  of rotten

  eggsss, Magmar,” the green dragon was

  saying.

  “Yesss, it’sss sssuperb!” agreed Magmar,

  the orange dragon. “But we should

  ssspeed

  thingsss up, Rocky.”

  Magmar looked around. “If

  Gobbler

  56

  A Dragon’s Tooth

  the Putrid

  knew we were relaxing in this

  ssstinky

  pool inssstead of hunting for fresh

  miceking meat, there would be trouble!”

  Rocky snickered. “We

  dessserve a little ressst!”

  This is

  the life!

  We shouldn’t

  be

  here!

  ROCKY

  Rocky is a type of dragon

  known as a Rinser. He

  washes his miceking meat

  well before eating it.

  MAGMAR

  Magmar is a young Slurper.

  He uses his long tongue to

  slurp up raw micekings —

  no ketchup necessary.

  “If we’re caught,

  Gobbler

  will

  ssslice

  usss with hisss

  clawsss!” Magmar

  reminded him.

  “Ssstay

  calm,” Rocky

  said. “Gobbler
/>
  will never know.

  Now relax. We’ll

  go back on patrol

  later.”

  Magmar rolled

  over in the pool, but

  he wasn’t convinced.

  Trap and I were

  shivering in

  fright. The other

  micekings didn’t

  A Dragon’s Tooth

  seem afraid at all.

  “What’s the plan?” asked Crusher, Smasher,

  and Sprainer.

  “Should we

  Crush

  them?”

  “Should we Smash them?”

  “Should we

  Sprain

  their long tails?”

  “Here’s the plan,” Max whispered. “I will

  go to the dragons and get their attention.

  The rest of you can sneak up behind

  them.”

  “How will we get to their teeth if we are

  behind them?” I asked.

  But Max ignored me and headed for the

  dragons. Crusher, Smasher, and Sprainer

  pushed me forward.

  “Let’s go, shrimp!” they said.

  As we crept up behind the dragons, Max

  jumped out from behind a bush in front

  of them.

  59

  A Dragon’s Tooth

  “Hey you two! You with the

  ugly

  snouts!

  I’m talking to you!” he

  taunted.

  The two dragons sat up and

  sniffed the air.

  “Look at that moussseking over there!”

  Rocky said, spotting Max.

  “How

  lucky! A nice big one!”

  said

  Magmar, licking his lips.

  Max kept taunting them. “You big-nosed

  blubberheads!

  You lousy

  lizards!

  I will peel off your

  scales

  one by

  one!”

  From our hiding place we saw Rocky

  climb out of the pool. Crusty codfish! He was

  truly a BIG . . . no,

  giant

  . . .

  ENORMOUSE

  no,

  dragon!

  How were we supposed to get one of

  60

  A Dragon’s Tooth

  his teeth without being

  chomped

  and

  swallowed?

  I had no clue how to do it!

  Once again I began to shake with fear.

  I was shaking so hard that I bumped

  into a pile of rocks behind me. The rocks

  tumbled

  to the ground, making a

  noise.

  Magmar turned his head. “Look, more

  micekingsss! This really isss our lucky day!”

  The dragon moved toward us. “Which one

  shall I ssslurp up firssst?”

  We were fried,

  finished,

  done for!

  Squeak! What could we do?

  Suddenly, a huge mud ball hit Magmar

  square in the face.

  “RUN!

  NOW!”

  yelled Max Musclepaw.

  61

  They see us!

  Lookie here . . .

  Take that!

  A Dragon’s Tooth

  The brave mouseking pummeled Magmar

  and Rocky with mud balls. Trap dragged me

  away from the dragons.

  “Let’s get out of here, Geronimo!

  Quiiiiiiiick!”

  64

  Mouseking in

  Trouble!

  We ran as fast as we could. Crusher,

  Smasher, and Sprainer quickly

  charged ahead of us toward the woods. Trap

  and I followed them as they shouted back at

  us.

  “This way!”

  “Behind me!”

  “Down this path!”

  I had no idea where we were going.

  Z I G Z A GG I N G

  We kept

  through the trees. It felt like we were going

  in circles.

  “Where are we running to?” I called

  out.

  65

  Mouseking in Trouble!

  Crusher, Smasher, and Sprainer looked at

  each other, confused, then each replied:

  “This is the way!”

  “Trust us!”

  “We know where we’re going!”

  So we kept following them until we ended

  up on the banks of a wild river.

  “I don’t remember this river,” Crusher

  admitted.

  Mouseking in Trouble!

  “This doesn’t look familiar,” agreed

  Smasher.

  “We’re lost!” Sprainer yelled.

  I sighed. I knew we were somewhere

  between the Elderberry Honey Woods

  and Gullet Valley. There were two dragons

  behind us, and a river in front of us. We were

  doomed!

  “Good-bye, miceking world!” I said

  dramatically. “Farewell, beautiful

  Thora!”

  “Stop being such a blubberhead!”

  Great groaning glaciers! That was

  the voice of Max Musclepaw. I looked up

  to see him standing on the other side of the

  river.

  “Jump in the water and swim like

  herrings, all of you!” Max ordered. “The

  dragons are coming!”

  67

  Mouseking in Trouble!

  But the river was too big, and the

  I have a

  solution!

  CURRENT

  was too strong. If

  we tried to swim, we would

  be swept away

  by the roaring water.

  “I have a solution!”

  Trap exclaimed. “I am

  the village inventor,

  aren’t I?”

  He quickly went to

  work, grabbing strong vines

  and tying them together end to end. When

  he finished, he had two very long, very

  strong vines.

  I wasn’t sure what Trap had in mind. Then

  he turned to Crusher.

  “Toss one end of each over to Max,” he

  instructed.

  The three beefy micekings tossed the

  68

  Mouseking in Trouble!

  ends of the two vines over to our leader. Then

  Trap yelled instructions over to Max.

  Max tied the ends of the vines securely

  to a tree. Trap tied the other two ends to

  a tree on our side. The long vines

  stretched across the river.

  I finally got it. Trap was making a

  bridge!

  Crusher, Smasher, and Sprainer made

  their way over the skinny bridge like

  graceful tightrope walkers.

  The

  bridge

  shook

  so

  much!

  I, on the other paw, was terrified! I am

  afraid of heights, and I am not graceful! I am

  not an athletic mouseking — I am a scholar!

  “Calm down, Cousin. You’ll

  make it,” Trap said. “This bridge has been

  69

  Oh

  no!

  Miceking Tested

  and Approved.”

  “Not by this

  mouseking!” I said.

  I hugged the tree.

  “I’m not going

  anywhere.

  I’m staying here!”

  “Fine!” Trap replied. “I’ll

  cross first. But follow me, if you

  don’t want to become dra
gon

  food.”

  He took a few steps onto the

  swaying, skinny bridge.

  The bridge shook so much!

  Trap started to

  wobble. Then

  he slipped!

  He

  slipped!

  Oops!

  Mouseking in Trouble!

  Splaaash!

  My cousin fell into the freezing waters

  of the river! His snout dipped under the water,

  and the current started to sweep him

  away! Max and the three beefy micekings

  just stared at Trap, not sure what to do.

  I had to do something.

  But what?

  Suddenly, my determination kicked in. I

  QUICKLY scrambled across the bridge, no

  longer afraid that I would fall in. (And I didn’t!)

  Then I grabbed a vine hanging

  from a tree and threw it to my cousin.

  “Grab it, Trap!” I yelled.

  He grabbed the vine, and Crusher, Smasher,

  and Sprainer helped me pull Trap

  ashore.

  72

  Got it!

  Good

  job!

  Heave ho!

  Mouseking in Trouble!

  “Heeeeeave ho! Heeeeave ho!”

  “Heeeeeave ho! Heeeeave ho!”

  “Heeeeeave ho! Heeeeave ho!”

  With one last tug, Trap fell at our feet.

  “Thanks, Cousin. You saved me!” Trap

  exclaimed happily.

  Max pounded me on the back. “Well done,

  shrimpy! You have made me proud.”

  Well done!

  Thanks!

  74

  Mouseking in Trouble!

  I couldn’t believe my ears. The mouseking

  hero had given me a compliment! Maybe

  he would tell Sven the Shouter. And maybe,

  just maybe, I would finally earn a miceking

  helmet!

  I imagined myself wearing the helmet.

  Thora, beautiful Thora, would

  smile

  at me.

  “Thora,” I would say. “Will you —”

  “Dragons!” Trap yelled, jolting me

  from my daydream.

  Rocky and Magmar had found us!

  75

  No Mouseking

  Left

  Behind!

  The two dragons lunged toward Max

  Musclepaw. Rocky grabbed his paws

  and Magmar grabbed his feet, and they

  pulled

  on Max like he was taffy.

  Magmar’s stomach rumbled. He sniffed